Apparatus designed for track surveying



1967 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,334,592

APPARATUS DESIGNED FOR TRACK SURVEYING Filed Nov. 19, 1964 United States Patent 3,334,592 APPARATUS DESIGNED FOR TRACK SURVEYING Franz Plasser and Josef Theurer, both of .lolrannesgasse 3, Vienna I, Austria Filed Nov. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 412,378 Claims priority, application Austria, Nov. 29, 1963, A 9,596/ 63 4 Claims. (Cl. 104-1) The present invention relates to track surveying preparatory to track alignment, and more particularly to carriages mounted for mobility on two track rails and used for surveying the track and, if need be, to align it.

It is a primary object of this invention to facilitate and improve the survey and/or alignment of a track, and to make the same more accurate.

Apparatus for surveyingthe horizontal coordinates of a railroad track, such as measuring the ordinate of a curved track section, is known. In one such conventional apparatus, a series of carriages are spaced along a track and coupled together, and one of the carriages has mounted thereon surveying and/or track aligning equipment. The surveying carriage has rollers engaging the track rails and which, independently of the carriage truck, transmit their movement transversely of the track to the surveying equipment. To assure the accuracy of the surveyed parameters transmitted by the rail-engaging rollers, the rollers are mounted for transverse movement and are pressed against the inside of the rails whereby they are fully independent of the movement of the trucks.

This mechanism is relatively complicated and is simplified by using the truck wheels themselves as reference points for the track location and without employing special rollers in addition thereto, and by mounting on the mobile track surveying carriage at least one jack operative in a generally horizontal plane to engage, and press against, the inside of one of the track rails to move the carriage in the horizontal plane and force the carriage wheels mounted on the other rail into flush engagement therewith.

In this manner, the other rail may be used as the reference line for the equipment on the carriage for surveying and, if needed, to correct the alignment of the track.

In curved sections of a track, it is advantageous to use either rail of the track as the reference line and to shift from one rail to the other as the track curves in different directions, the inner rail of the curve being usually employed as the reference line. Therefore, it is preferred to use a pair of jacks for selective engagement with one or the other rail so that the carriage may be selectively moved with its wheels flush with one or the other rail. The preferred actuating means for the jack or jacks is a pressure fluid, such as hydraulic fluid or compressed air, for selective operation of the pair of jacks into either direction.

In conventional track surveying and alignment apparatus, a series of carriages are spaced along the track and rigid coupling means are provided to link adjacent carriages together. In such apparatus, a supply of pressure fluid is preferably connected to all the jacks of the carriages so that they may be operated towards one rail or the other simultaneously in a single operation.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the single figure of the drawing schematically showing a top View of the apparatus.

As shown, a series of carriages 1 are spaced along the track and coupled to each other by rigid coupling rods 5.

3,334,592 Patented Aug. 8, 1967 Each carriage is mounted for mobility on the track rails 3 and 4 by wheels 2 which are provided with flanges 2' assuring engagement of the rails by the wheels. The wheel flanges extend in a plane vertical to the plane of the track so that accurate track measuring results are obtained when the respective wheel flanges are flush with the inside face of a respective track rail.

The apparatus is designed to measure the location of the track and to align the same, if the measurements so indicate, in a manner which is conventional and forms no part of the present invention. Therefore, neither the track measuring or alignment means are shown or described herein since the disclosed and claimed apparatus is useful with any suitable means for aligning tracks, particularly in a horizontal or lateral direction.

In accordance with this invention, each of the carriages 1 has mounted thereon a pair of jacks operative respectively to engage, and press against, one of the rails. Each jack comprises a cylinder 9 wherein a piston 8 is glidably movable against the bias of compression spring 10 mounted in one of the cylinder chambers, i.e., the outer chamber adjacent the track rails. Piston rod 7 carrying shoe 6 at its outer end is rigidly connected to, or integral with, piston 8 for movement therewith under the force of pressure fluid supplied to the other, or inner, cylinder chamber.

As indicated, all the jack cylinders of the apparatus are connected by flexible supply lines 11 and 12 to a source of pressure fluid (not shown but indicated by an arrow), i.e. a tank of hydraulic fluid or compressed air. A two-way valve 13 is interposed between the pressure fluid supply and the jack cylinders. In the illustrated position of the valve, pressure fluid is delivered to the righthand cylinders (as seen in the drawing) so that the jack shoes 6 press against rail 4 and thus force the wheels 2 of the carriages 1 with their vertical flanges 2 into flush engagement with rail 3. In this manner, rail 3 will serve as an accurate reference line for the measurement and, if required, alignment of the track location.

Simply by changing the valve position, the carriages may instantaneously be pressed against rail 4 so that this system may readily be used in the alignment of tracks where switching of the reference line from one rail to the other is often required.

If desired, the jack shoes 6 may carry rollers or other friction-reducing means to enable the carriages to be moved along the track while they are pressed against a rail.

While the invention has 'been described in connection with a single specific embodiment, it will be clearly understood that many variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art, particularly after benefiting from the present teaching, and that the spirit and scope of this invention is defined solely by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A track surveying carriage comprising wheels mounted for mobility on two track rails and a pair of jack shoes selectively movable in a generally horizontal plane to press a selected one of said jack shoes against the inside of one of the rails to move the carriage in said plane and force the wheels mounted on the other rail into flush engagement therewith.

2. The carriage of claim 1, wherein said jack shoes are mounted for movement in a cylinder means, and further comprising a supply of pressure fluid connected to the cylinder means for moving the same into pressure engagement with said one rail.

3. The carriage of claim 2, further comprising means for selectively directing the pressure fluid to move one or the other of the jack shoes.

4. An apparatus comprising a plurality of track surveying carriages spaced along a track, rigid coupling means 3 for linking adjacent carriages together, each carriage comprising wheels mounted for mobility on two track rails and a pair of jack shoes selectively movable in a generally horizontal plane to press a selected one of said jack shoes against the inside of one of the rails to move the carriage in said plane and force the wheels mounted on the other rail selectively into flush engagement therewith, a cylinder means mounting each pair of jack shoes for movement therein, a supply of pressure fluid connected to all of said cylinder means for moving the selected jack shoes into pressure engagement with said one rail, and means between the pressure fiuid supply and the cylinder means for selectively directing the pressure fluid to move one or the other of the jack shoes of each pair.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,962,979 12/1960 McCormick 1047 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

D. F. WORTH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TRACK SURVEYING CARRIAGE COMPRISING WHEELS MOUNTED FOR MOBILITY ON TWO TRACK RAILS AND A PAIR OF JACK SHOES SELECTIVELY MOVABLE IN A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL PLANE TO PRESS A SELECTED ONE OF SAID JACK SHOES AGAINST THE INSIDE OF ONE OF THE RAILS TO MOVE THE CARRIAGE IN SAID PLANE AND FORCE THE WHEELS MOUNTED ON THE OTHER RAIL INTO FLUSH ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH. 